baylaust Reviews: Mass Effect 2 (PS3)

[baylaust 2,531]

So through all of last year, all I've heard about is how Mass Effect 2 is pretty much the Jesus of modern games. I've wanted to check it out for a long time, but since my brother took our X-Box 360 with him to university, I never had the chance. However, Bioware has recently released Mass Effect 2 for the PS3 (Mass Effect 1 is owned by Microsoft, so it won't be coming to a Sony console). I've bought and played it, and here is my review.

 

Keep in mind that I am reviewing MY copy of the game, and the PS3 version of it. Your copy may not have the issues that mine did.

 

Story

Story

 

The game takes place at first, immediately after Mass Effect 1, but the majority of it takes place 2 years later. While the SSV Normandy is on patrols searching for any surviving Geth (sentient robots that served the Reapers, giant battleship-like constructions that wipe out all life every 50,000 years), a mysterious ship appears and attacks the Normandy. The Normandy is destroyed, and while most of the crew escape, the ship's commander, Commander Shepard, gets spaced.

 

Shepard wakes up two years later to find out that his life has been saved by a notoriously pro-human organization called Cerberus. Shepard learns that while he's been gone, several human collonies have been disappearing, with millions of humans simply vanishing, with no signs of violence. The Galactic Alliance is doing nothing about it, so Cerberus needs a man like Shepard to find out who's behind the abductions and stop them.

 

Of course, once the enemy has been discovered (a race of insect-like aliens called the Collectors), things turn a bit more complicated, as things escelate into 'A suicide mission'. Shepard must now assemble a team of both old and new allies to take on the Collectors and escape alive... if they can.

 

Let me start out by saying that this has to be one of the best told stories of any game I've played in recent memory. You grow attached to every character you pick up through the game, and genuinely don't want to see them die in the climactic suicide mission.

 

If you've played and beaten Mass Effect 1, you can import your Commander Shepard and choices to Mass Effect 2. Of course, the PS3 will never get Mass Effect 1, so Bioware compensated by packing the game with an interactive comic that allows you to make the most important choices from the first game and take them into Mass Effect 2. It's good enough, but a lot of the smaller choices get completely ingnored in the final result.

 

Of course, what makes Mass Effect is the choices you make. One simple dialogue option can determine who lives, and who dies. Your character can become either "Paragon", or "Renegade", Paragon being the brave, heroic type, and Renegade being the badass prick. And when I say that one dialogue option can have that much impact, I'm not kidding. Anything from a following dialogue with someone, to who might fall in love with you, to who dies in the Suicide Mission, can be determined.

 

Gameplay

 

Of course, what makes a game is NOT its story, but how it plays. And thankfully, Mass Effect 2 plays VERY well. It's a nice combination of a Third-Person Cover Shooter, and an RPG. The majority of the game will have you shooting at waves of enemies from cover while ordering your party members to use different powers. Throughout the game, you can level up your character, equip new pieces of armor, and make several choices, which is where the RPG element comes in. The two blend very well, and both elements of the game are the some of the best you'll see from either genre.

 

Since the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 came so late, a lot of DLCs have been released. As such, a lot of DLCs come with the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 for free: Project Overlord, Lair of the Shadow Broker (my favourite), and the Kasumi character + Loyalty mission. It also comes with a code that you can use to get the Cerberus Network DLC, which comes with the interactive comic I described earlier, a new party member + Loyalty mission (Zaeed), new armor, and more. Bioware clearly wanted to make up for the late release of this title for the PS3, and it shows.

 

Presentation

Presentation

 

The PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 is actually running on what will be Mass Effect 3's engine. As a result, the graphics have recieved a slight upgrade from the 360 and PC versions of the game. Not a huge upgrade, but it's good enough. And this doesn't mean that Mass Effect 3 will look like what Mass Effect 2 on the PS3 looks like, don't worry.

 

The soundtrack is incredible, to say the least. Jack Wall did an incredible job with every piece he scored for the game, and it's truly a shame that he will not be returning for Mass Effect 3.

 

Despite the visual upgrades I mentioned, the presentation is where the PS3 version of the game faulters the most. In the Project Overlord DLC, I could literally count each individual pixel on the main map, no joke. And throughout the game, I encounted audio lag roughly every 1/3 cutscenes in the game, and several visual glitches. Despite having an extra year for the PS3 version, all these technical issues make the final product feel rushed, something I don't want to feel while playing a game, especially one that so many people had to wait so long for.

 

Verdict

Verdict

 

So, I give Mass Effect 2 for the Playstation 3 a:

 

9.5/10

 

The game creates a large, expansive universe for you to explore (with a world map similar, but unique, from KH2 and BBS), complex characters you grow emotionally attatched to, conflicts that will test your morality, a constantly rising story that leads to an amazing climax and perfect transition to Mass Effect 3, all combined with the best the TPS and RPG gameplay styles have to offer. All that keeps this from earning a perfect score is the abundance of audio and visual issues I had with the game.

 

So if you actually read this entire thing, do you own the game on PS3, 360, or PC, and what do you think of it? Was my review unfair, or did I miss anything?

 

baylaust out.

[Deadshot 666]

i agree with your review mass effect 2 is my 4th favourite ps3 game.I loved characters like Liara T'Soni,Garrus Vakarian,Thane Krios,Tali'Zorah.They patched some of your issues and New DLC is coming out of it.The Lair of the Shadow Broker was also my favourite.Am starting my Renegade playthough soon

[baylaust 2,531]

i agree with your review mass effect 2 is my 4th favourite ps3 game.I loved characters like Liara T'Soni,Garrus Vakarian,Thane Krios,Tali'Zorah.They patched some of your issues and New DLC is coming out of it.The Lair of the Shadow Broker was also my favourite.Am starting my Renegade playthough soon

 

Sadly, the patch was designed to fix some corrupt save data errors and freezing problems, both of which I never had issues with. The visual and audio glitches have both remained unchecked.

[Deadshot 666]

The visual and audio problems didn't affect me that much when i was playing.A few spots were bad